Comments on: Complete Guide to Apple Certification and Training

By: JOJO

JOJO — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 05:43:39 +0000

Hey Barry, thanks for the heads up regarding the acmt exams. I had been a cellphone technician for six years and my experience with fixing iphones had opened up the door for the shop that i work for to start fixing macs too. iPhone lovers will eventually switch to macs and vice versa. That is my view. This last year alone was just amazing as to how many people do break their phones and their macs. And now the iPad. My skills are limited to work for small to medium sized businesses only but business has never been so robust for me. You could work seven days a week if your body could take it. I guess the key to passing those acmt exams really is a combination of book smarts and street smarts…Working for a local shop, you could be installing snow leopard one minute and as far as panther in the next minute. Ive seen a lot of graphic designers still using the powermac g4s…if you can afford to pay $3000 for a couple of sessions at v2 then you can definitely afford to buy a few broken macs on the cheap and start fixing them and reselling them on craigslist or something. That is how if supplement my income and at the same time learn…Sorry for the lengthy note but im just showing that there is another side to the business than just working for the “big guys”..good luck to you too…

By: Barry

Barry — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:56:11 +0000

Hey Jojo, good luck with the ACMT tests. They are hard. There are 2 of them, 1 for troubleshooting Mac software, and 1 for repairing Mac hardware. I took the v.2 Consulting courses in SF, CA for a tidy sum of $3000.00. Even with expert training from v.2, it took me 3 try's to pass the software test (which was only a 2-day course). You need 69% to pass. I failed with 55%, 63%, and finally passed with 80%. I had to study for a whole second week before passing. I passed the hardware test the first try, needing 73% to pass, and getting 83%. There are a lot of questions like: "Billy brings his computer in to the shop, at startup, the spinning gear just keeps on spinning. Which of the following might be the cause?" Then they give you 4 multiple choice answers, of which 3 sound really close. :-| There are a lot of "year" specific questions too like: Which power supply will work for a Mac Mini (mid 2006)? The good thing is that all of the questions are multiple choice. Also, I believe that ALL of the current Certifications being offered are for Snow Leopard v10.6.x. If you aren't currently using Snow Leopard, I STRONGLY suggest you go get it and pay close attention to the installation options, as there are at least 8 questions about just that area. I also took the ACSP (Apple Certified Support Professional) course they offered, but haven't taken the test yet. (scheduled to take it April 19th). April 20-23 will find me in a another course, ACTC (Apple Certified Technical Coordinator). This course is the "server" based support course for Sys Admin career path. I don't think I'll pass this course, but I'm going to try. The ACMT tests cost $150 each, and you have to pass both for Cert. The ACSP and ACTC tests are $200 each, but each pass will get you another certification. These 3 courses I just outlined are the logical path to get an IT position. I have about 30 years experience USING computers, and have bee supporting an engineering team using Windows XP for the last 8 years. Even with that, and ACMT Cert, I haven't yet found a job. But things are heating up and I'm hopeful. Good Luck!!

By: JOJO

JOJO — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 06:33:36 +0000

Great info for budding mac users like me. I had been fixing iphones since the original iphone came out and had since realized that i could possibly elevate my skills to computers. I purchased the applecare technician training for $250 at a local apple store (non corporate) and all i could say is that it was really worth it!! It had all the info that you could possibly need to get and possibly pass the ACMT test. I have yet to take it. All of the book knowledge though is absolutely useless if you havent actually seen and fixed real life Mac hardware and software issues like replacing LCD's and water damaged macbooks. These you can only learn hands on. But ACMT or whatever Apple certs are a stepping stone to getting hired at an AASP or the Apple store. With the resurgence of the Macs nowadays, Im sure there will be some sort of shortage of Mac specialists to service all of these new users. I hope to capitalize on all of the studying that I have been doin recently and getting some sort of a real path to the IT field.

By: Apple “Genius Squad” in the Works? « Apple News Daily

Apple “Genius Squad” in the Works? « Apple News Daily — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:28:52 +0000

[...] would be convenient. The Geniuses stay locked behind the bar (pun intended) and Apple relies on independent third-party sources who are often part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN) or Apple Authorized Service Providers [...]

By: Apple “Genius Squad” in the Works?

Apple “Genius Squad” in the Works? — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:02:01 +0000

By: Complete Guide to Apple Certification and Training « Chicago Mac/PC Support

Complete Guide to Apple Certification and Training « Chicago Mac/PC Support — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:17 +0000

[...] Guide to Apple Certification and Training It describes what some find to be confusing in the names that Apple uses for its levels for support. I have two certifications but they don’t exist in the current structure. So I will be [...]

By: Barry

Barry — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:36:45 +0000

BTW, V.2 Consulting is providing the ACMT training course for $2500.00. I haven’t checked the prices on the ACSP course, but it sounds like that might not be a bad idea to take it as well., based on your comments above. Thanks for helping to clarify the Apple Certification questions I had.

By: Barry

Barry — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:48:08 +0000

I am signed up to take a course for ACMT certification. I was wondering how much help that certification might be in actually getting a job at Apple. I was recently considered for a part time position at the Mountain View site, but DIDN’T have the ACMT certification they were looking for. Had I had that certification, I might have been considered for the position. I’ve been out of work for about 10 months now, was doing QA work for Sonic/Roxio corp, which basically sold my job to China. Nice.

By: djacks

djacks — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:12:35 +0000

I’ve been working a AASP for the last 2.5 years and just got my ACMT a couple weeks ago. I thought having an ACMT would be useless without working for an AASP or SSA, but I didn’t know you could still get access to the manuals (Service Source access, I assume?) being certified and not working for an AASP.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:33:00 +0000

Well written article Dave. We have come to expect great things from you and these articles are proof positive why we do. This will be a great resource for those out there struggling through the monolith of Apple Certs.

On a side note; (Ding dong the witch is dead)